


Earth to Mars

by daughtershade



Category: Person of Interest (TV), Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-22
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-12-06 02:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daughtershade/pseuds/daughtershade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wherein: John and Harold have company. Keith needs to learn to say no. Bear makes a new friend.  And Veronica pwns all as usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Earth to Mars

Harold was relieved, if somewhat disappointed, when the two of them stumbled back to the library after their latest attempt to track down Elias. How such a man managed to manipulate the justice system into letting him out of prison early had been a mystery. While Harold knew for a fact that incarceration hadn’t slowed the mob boss at all, at least they always knew where he was. Mr. Reese was hovering behind him protectively as they rounded the stacks. Both of them had taken a nasty fall while chasing after Elias’ lieutenant with the scar. Harold had come out more worse for wear than his counterpart. Mr. Reese, thankfully, had never commented or pried into Harold’s physical condition. Instead, he had taken to invading Harold’s personal space with the slightest concerned cant to his eyebrows whenever Harold wasn’t at his best. It was as if he thought he could keep Harold’s pain away by his mere physical presence. It was very thoughtful, if a bit uncomfortable sometimes. Mr. Reese was not well versed in expressing softer feelings, and though Harold knew him better, sometimes his actions came off looking more like a threat.

When they finally entered the main room Harold stopped abruptly. Mr. Reese, being so close, had to catch himself by taking hold of Harold’s shoulders to keep from knocking into him. There on the floor in Bear’s spot was another dog. A large, tawny pitbull was curled up next to Bear and the two appeared to be great friends. So much so that Bear didn’t even get up to accost Mr. Reese as he usually did when they entered. Before he could say anything, Mr. Reese had stepped in front of him with his gun drawn.

“Woo, down, cowboy! Nobody’s threatening you here,” a feminine voice said.

Harold leaned around Mr. Reese’s shoulder. There was young blond lady sitting at his desk with her feet propped up on the corner. She was wearing a tailored ladies suit, but there was a softer yellow t-shirt under the blazer instead of a typical blouse, and she was wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes. Harold stared at the dirty Converse on his desk with a frown. When he looked up, he caught her eye and she had the audacity to smirk at him. Mr. Reese’s gun seemed not to bother her one bit.

“Who are you? How did you get in here?” Mr. Reese said, in his usual demanding tone.

“Veronica Mars, FBI. I came in through the door. I like your dog. I guess that semester in Amsterdam paid off in more ways than one, huh?”

“What could the FBI possibly want here?” Harold asked. 

He was already cycling through aliases and stories about the library refurbishment in his head. Veronica smiled. It was a nice smile, but for some reason it put Harold on edge. It gave him pause. He felt Mr. Reese tighten up in front of him as well.

“Oh sweety,” she said, “where do I begin? But fortunately for you, I’m not looking for small fish. Here’s the deal. You two are going to help me, and I’m going to forget all about your little enterprise. I’m going to forget about this rather dusty library, and you two, and all the bazillion laws you guys are breaking to save people or whatever.”

“Why would you do that?” Mr. Reese asked.

“Because the FBI convinced my dad to do something dumb. They wanted him to impersonate some mob boss that got killed in prison so that they could have a chance of running the New York mafia. He thinks he’s helping his country and getting the chance to become an agent. It’s never that simple. I had that figured out even before I was done in Quantico. You two are going to help me and Backup save my dad.”

The pitbull perked up at the mention of Backup, and he could only assume that was the animal’s name. Harold turned in his usual awkward manner to look up at Mr. Reese. He could tell the other man was thinking how useful an FBI contact would be. Carter and Fusco had become invaluable to them on their mission. Mr. Reese met his eyes and they made a silent agreement. The gun was put away and Harold moved further into the room edging away from the unknown dog. He frowned again at the sneakers still perched on his desk while Mr. Reese squatted down to pet Bear and the rather aptly named Backup. The man had absolutely no fear. He glanced up at Harold with his usual contained amusement, as if he could hear what Harold was thinking.

Mr. Reese said, “I think we have a deal.”

“I figured you’d see it my way. This is the start of a beautiful friendship, I can already tell.”

“Yes, thank you, the sarcasm is well noted, Ms. Mars,” Harold said.

“You’ll get used to it. I’m really a spot of sunshine on the inside.”

Harold glanced down at Mr. Reese again. He was actively smiling now. He liked Ms. Mars, Harold could tell. She had to be very good to have found them at all, much less gotten past all of their security. Perhaps this was the beginning of something. He shuddered to think what.


End file.
